/pred"euh ses'euhr, pred'euh ses"euhr/ or, esp. Brit., /pree"deuh ses'euhr/ , n.
1. a person who precedes another in an office, position, etc.
2. something succeeded or replaced by something else: The new monument in the park is more beautiful than its predecessor.
3. Archaic. an ancestor; forefather.
[ 1250-1300; ME predecessour praedecessor, equiv. to L prae- PRE- + decessor retiring official, itself equiv. to deced-, var. s. of decedere to withdraw ( de- DE- + cedere to yield; see CEDE) + -tor -TOR, with dt > ss ]